


The Red Riding Hood Society

by muse_in_absentia



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fairy Tale Elements, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Misunderstandings, Secret Society, Sort Of, Stalking, Werewolves, Wolfstar Big Bang 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-07 05:36:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19078546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muse_in_absentia/pseuds/muse_in_absentia
Summary: Sirius' first assignment as a new member of the fabled Red Riding Hood Society doesn't turn out the way he anticipated.  At all.





	The Red Riding Hood Society

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chiru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chiru/gifts).



> This is for the amazing Wolfstar Big Bang this year. It's been a blast guys!!!
> 
> Inspired by the AMAZING art of [Chiru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chiru/pseuds/Chiru).
> 
> Thank you SO MUCH [tpants](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tpants/pseuds/Tpants) for betaing this for me so quickly. You're fabulous.

_Dear Mister S.B.;_

_The Red Riding Hood Society would like to extend their congratulations on your acceptance to a very exclusive Order of warriors. Your Sponsor, James Potter, member Second Year, had nothing but praise, and we are very interested in what you can offer us._

_Upon your reply to this letter you will receive your official Hood, to be used only upon Order business to keep your identity secret. This is of the utmost importance as you will be required to continue your regular life with no acknowledgement of The Red Riding Hood Society to anyone except confirmed members. You will also receive a basket of official Order weapons so that you may begin training to adjust to any dissimilarities with your personal weapons. We will expect you to use only the provided weapons while on official Order business as they have been customized by our design team to be both durable in any situation and untraceable. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at any time. We will be awaiting your reply. Keep in mind, should you choose to decline we will be forced to blank your memory of all knowledge of The Red Riding Hood Society for both your protection and our own._

_We thank you for your interest in The Red Riding Hood Society._

_Yours,_

_The Elder Woodsmen_

Sirius read the letter through three times before cracking open the door to James’ room, tiptoeing inside and flinging himself on James’ bed, landing across James’ legs with a heavy thump. 

James bolted upright, arms flailing, a small knife appearing in his hand almost like an afterthought. 

“Some renowned warrior you are,” Sirius snorted, plucking the knife from James’ sleep loose fingers and tossing it away, where it stuck in the wall, quivering a little. 

“Did you have to put a hole in my wall?” James groaned, rubbing at his eyes before kicking at Sirius, who completely ignored him in favor of dropping his weight across James’ chest and batting his eyelashes at him just to see James roll his eyes. An annoyed James was much easier to wrangle out of bed in the morning than a content and lazy James, a fact that Sirius had learned through the last four years of living together. 

“Of course, I did,” Sirius said, even though it had been a complete accident. He had only meant to toss the knife aside, but he had been spending too much time with the targets behind their small, three room home, lately and his reflexes had kicked in. “You haven’t made me coffee yet. There had to be some sort of repercussions.” 

“Make your own bloody coffee,” James groaned, but he shoved at Sirius until Sirius let himself be rolled to the side so James could stumble off the low mattress and fumble for his glasses. 

Sirius bit back his usual retort about fearsome warriors needing glasses, hoping James appreciated the effort it took. 

“What are you doing awake at this hour, anyway?” James asked, stumbling out of his bedroom and putting the kettle on for coffee. Sirius took that as a win and dropped himself into one of the rickety wooden chairs. 

“Someone had to be up to pay the post owl, and it wasn’t going to be you.” 

“Is it Thursday already?” James asked around a yawn while pulling the lat of the milk and a half a loaf of bread out of the cooler. 

Sirius, in a moment of charity, and not feeling like having his fingers sliced off by a frustrated James, took the bread and started slicing. 

Neither of them had been to the market lately, so they were out of eggs and any sort of meat. There was some grain for porridge left, but seeing as neither of them actually liked porridge, it just sat there while Sirius toasted bread over the fire, still banked for the night, but not entire out, and the perfect temperature for crisping bread without turning it to charcoal. 

“Yes, James, it’s Thursday.” 

“I don’t know how you keep track,” James said, pouring two cups of coffee and adding too much milk to one of them, just a drop of honey to the second, which he slid to Sirius, who traded it for a couple slices of toast. It turned out they were also out of butter, so Sirius resigned himself to dry toast and a trip to the market. 

“Because I don’t spend my days lazing about doing nothing,” Sirius retorted, scalding himself on his coffee. 

“I don’t do nothing!” James protested, crumbs tumbling down over his sleep rumpled shirt. 

“Mooning over the butcher’s daughter – who you won’t even let me meet, mind – doesn’t count.” 

“She smiled at me yesterday,” James said, pouring coffee on his hand as he tried to refill his mug, having drained the first one in one go. 

Sirius just barely managed to refrain from asking what James was doing down near the butcher shop if it wasn’t going to the market, which it clearly wasn’t. “Stop being a stalker for just a minute and be excited for me,” Sirius sighed, tossing his letter at James and just hoping it wouldn’t end up drowned in coffee and toast crumbs. 

James frowned and scooped up the piece of parchment reading it over, eyes skimming across the words without once flicking to Sirius. Sirius, watched, waiting, until the grin flitted across James’ face. 

“You got in!” James shouted, dropping the letter, just barely missing the puddle of coffee, and flinging himself from his seat so he could throw his arms around Sirius. “I told you, you could do it! Now maybe you can stop being bored at me and do something with yourself.” 

“I’m not bored,” Sirius grumbled, staring at his coffee and wishing he had some butter for his untouched toast. 

“Yesterday you folded all of my clothes into the shapes of various birds.” 

Sirius snickered. “That wasn’t boredom, that was hilarious.” 

“Yeah, yeah, but now you can spend your time training and taking assignments and at least _pretending_ to be a productive member of society.” 

Throwing his toast at James’ head, Sirius sighed. “Yeah, as soon as I can get an answer to them and they send me my members only prize pack.” 

“Well then, maybe we ought to rent an off-day post owl in town today,” James grinned. 

“You only say that because the owlery is across the street from the butcher shop.” 

James just shrugged, unrepentant. “Maybe a little.” 

 

***** 

 

 _Dear Mister S.B._

_We are in receipt of your reply to our original correspondence. We are very glad you have decided to join our ranks officially._

_Enclosed within your basket of official Red Riding Hood Society accoutrements is a note with your first assignment. Your contact in the area will be one Lily Evans, member fourth year. Your sponsor should know how to contact her. Should you need anything you are to go to her first._

_Welcome to the team._

_Yours,_

_The Elder Woodsmen_

Sirius opened up what turned out to be a literal wicker basket, and ignoring the weapons for the moment, pulled out a jacket with an oversized hood which was surprisingly not red given the organization it came from. Sirius had to assume that red was simply too conspicuous. He did take a moment to wonder how it was supposed to conceal his identity when it didn’t actually cover his face any, and then wondered if it was more of a calling card, and concealment was their own responsibility. He’d have to ask James. 

Just underneath the jacket was a handwritten note, in a nearly illegible scrawl. 

_Local werewolf attacks._

That was all it said, and Sirius sighed. They couldn’t make this easy, could they? 

“Oi, James!” he called, tucking everything back in the basket, shaking his head over the concept of a wicker basket like they were actually living out the original story, and wondering what other esoteric rules and traditions they were going to start throwing at him. The only thing he held onto was the handwritten note. 

James tumbled into their tiny kitchen, sweaty, with his hair flopping in his eyes, and a short sword in his hand. The blade had a fresh nick in it, and Sirius winced, wondering what James had managed to hit that he shouldn’t have. 

“What?” 

Sirius had to give James credit, he wasn’t out of breath at all. 

“Evans is the butcher, right?” 

James frowned, but nodded, running a hand through his hair and then grimacing when it came away wet. “Yeah, why?” 

“Because you’re supposed to introduce me to Lily. Apparently, she’s my contact. And you can drop that sword off to Kingsley for repair on the way.” Sirius gently pried the blade from James’ hands and looked at the chip, which was at the end of a long scratch, and he just shook his head, grateful that the blacksmith was on the way into town. He had no idea how James managed to go through as many swords as he did. 

“No way, Lily is a member?” 

Sirius just handed James his letter and went in search of his boots. He hadn’t left the house since their trip to the market the week earlier, and he had forgotten where he put them. 

“How did they know I would know how to find her?” James asked, sounding slightly panicked. 

The words were slightly muffled as Sirius crawled under his bed to pull out his second boot rather than answer. 

“Do you suppose they’re keeping tabs on all of us?” James continued, tucking the letter into his own pocket and grabbing both their cloaks. “Do they have a whole second tier of members just to watch over the first tier?” 

“I’m going to assume,” Sirius said slowly, scrubbing dust from his hair before tying it back with a bit of leather, “That she’s mentioned you in correspondences with the higher ups. It’s not as if those jackets aren’t recognizable.” 

James’ face lit up, and he held the door for Sirius on their way out, locking the door and skipping ahead. “You think she’s noticed me?” 

It took every ounce of willpower Sirius had to not roll his eyes, although he didn’t contain his laugh when James tripped over the large rock in their front yard in his exuberance. The same rock, bordering on small boulder, that he had been tripping over since they bought the cottage a few years back, a result of Sirius being disowned and needing a place to live and James wanting a yard large enough to practice any sort of weapon in without risk of accidentally killing the neighbors. 

James flashed him a hurt look as he dusted off his knees, but he just kept walking, which Sirius took as him being forgiven. 

“Yes, James, I think that maybe this woman, who has apparently been trained more extensively than you have in the secret ways of the warrior –” James snorted, cutting Sirius off, but Sirius just smacked him on the shoulder and kept going. “Might possibly have noticed the conspicuous idiot with glasses and messy hair that keeps loitering outside her father’s store with no quantifiable reason to be there.” 

They continued to bicker all the way to the local Smithy, and right up to the front door, where Kingsley Shacklebolt greeted them with a sigh. 

“You know, you two fight worse than most married couples,” Kingsley said by way of welcome as he held the door open. “I can hear you coming for half a kilometer, I swear. What did you break this time, James?” 

“Why do you always assume it was me?” James asked, while pulling his sword-belt off and handing it over. 

“Because it’s never once been me?” Sirius asked, grinning when James’ face fell. 

Kingsley slid the sword out of its sheath and gave it a quick once over. “This will probably take a few days. You really need to find softer targets, mate,” he laughed. 

“I’ll swing by at the end of the week,” James said, tossing a small purse of coins at Kingsley. “Now, sadly, we need to get going.” 

“Time to go stalk that poor girl again?” Kingsley grinned. 

“Nah,” Sirius drawled, smirking at James. “It’s just to bloody hot in here. I’m delicate, you know.” 

Kingsley gave him a good-natured shove, which only almost sent him sprawling to the ground, and chuckled. “Just don’t let James get himself arrested. He’s half my business.” 

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. “I’ll do my best. Wouldn’t want you to go out of business, now.” 

“I’m still here,” James said, glaring between the two of them. 

“Thank goodness,” Kingsley said, before shooing them out the door and on their way. 

“I’m surprised you and Kingsley haven’t...” James trailed off, wiggling his eyebrows at Sirius, who just sighed in return. 

“Just because a bloke is bent doesn’t mean I have to fancy him,” Sirius grumbled, some of the thrill of the day wearing off as they trudged towards town the same as they did any other week. He had been hoping for more adventure, or at least, more variety in his locations, not yet another trip to the butcher shop so James could traumatize Lily again. 

“No, of course not,” James said, shaking his head. “But Kingsley is a good bloke with a good sense of humor and the patience to put up with your sorry arse. You could do worse.” 

“I could also do better,” Sirius said, even though he knew that it was half a lie. He wanted to hold out for better, for someone that made him forget how to breathe, someone that made him want to be stupid the way that James was stupid over Lily. James was right, Kingsley was a good bloke, but Sirius felt none of that excitement around him, and he wanted more. 

The look that James flashed him, raised eyebrows, mouth pinched, spoke volumes about the reality of that statement, but thankfully he didn’t say anything, and Sirius pushed on, hoping to walk away from the conversation as well as the dusty path through the woods and into civilization. 

Almost an hour later and they finally crested the final hill leading into the village. Sirius was trying very hard not to let on that he was breathing heavily from the walk. 

“How did I convince you to talk me into living in the middle of nowhere instead of surrounded by people?” he grumbled. 

“Your family,” James shrugged, indicating where Regulus was strolling out of the general store, a small bag that clanked with the familiar sound of apothecarist vials tucked under his arm, his head held high as he glanced past Sirius without acknowledgement. 

“Oh, right,” Sirius sighed, sweeping a few strands of hair that had come loose from their tie out of his face. 

“Besides, you need to work on your endurance if you want to last long,” James added lightly, nudging Sirius’ shoulder with his own. 

Sirius appreciated the attempt to draw his attention away from his younger brother, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to go and shake Regulus until he saw sense. Or possibly just kidnap him until he had been away from their parents for long enough to realize that there was another way to be. 

“Come on,” James interrupted his thoughts, which where whirling away from him. “You have an assignment to get to, and I have a girl to see.” 

“Should you be saying that that loudly?” Sirius asked, finally wrenching his gaze away from his brother and back to his brother of choice. 

“That you have an assignment? For all anyone knows I’ve given you chores to do.” 

“What makes you think you’re the one doling out chores, Potter? But no, I meant that you had a girl to see. Makes it so much harder to deny knowledge of your actions when she calls Moody on you.” 

“Who’s calling Moody on him, now?” a pretty redhead called, leaning in the doorway of the butcher shop. Sirius had to assume that she was Lily, since James certainly hadn’t been going on about the dour blonde for the past year. 

“I mean, I sort of assumed you were,” Sirius shrugged, sauntering up to the shop and flashing his brightest smile. Lily snorted at him and didn’t bother to introduce herself. Sirius liked her already. 

“Did you need something?” Lily sighed, looking between Sirius and James like she was contemplating denying them business simply by virtue of their being two of them. Sirius almost couldn’t blame her, with the way James was running his fingers through his hair and trying to stand up straighter so he looked taller. 

“Yes,” James answered, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. 

“Don’t mind him,” Sirius said, throwing an arm around James and squeezing, hard. “All that hair is just hiding the fact that there’s nothing underneath.” 

Lily giggled a little, and it changed her whole face, making her look less stern and more like a young woman who just happened to be exasperated with his friend’s antics. Suddenly Sirius almost understood why James was so taken with her. She was lovely, if you liked women, and she seemed to have a sense of humor hiding under her severe exterior. 

“Well come on in, then. We’re running low on mutton, but we have some fresh goose as well as some venison left, if that interests you.” 

Sirius let Lily keep talking until they were inside the shop behind closed doors. Even then he waited a moment to make sure her father or sister weren’t going to appear before holding his hand out to James who stared at him blankly for a moment before fumbling at his pocket and producing the letter. 

“I was told to get in contact with you,” Sirius said, handing Lily the letter and trying to pretend he wasn’t nervous. 

Lily scanned the letter, looked between Sirius and James, then scanned the letter a second time, her face slowly working its way towards matching her hair. 

“And you brought him?” 

James’ face fell, but he held firm, face slowly losing all its playfulness. 

“I’m his sponsor, so here I am. I may think you’re amazing, but this is business and I wouldn’t risk bollocksing that up without good reason. A pretty face, even yours, isn’t worth that.” 

Frowning, Lily gave him a hard look before nodding, sharply, once, her hair tumbling about her face and over her heavy leather apron, where she swatted at it, and then threw an almost panicked look down at her apron, shoulders dropping when she saw that it was clean. Sirius almost laughed, except he knew he would have done the same thing. 

Reaching up and undoing the leather holding his own hair back, he held it out to Lily. “Here you go. I suspect you need that more than I do, today.” 

After only a moment’s hesitation, Lily took the bit of leather and neatly tied her hair out of her face, twisting it up at the base of her neck revealing freckles that, after a quick glance at James, seemed to have rendered James speechless. Sirius shook his head and subtly nudged James until he unstuck his tongue. 

“Look, if it’s really going to bother you that much to have me here, I’ll leave,” James said slowly, not moving. “I was just doing my duty and delivering this giant git so he didn’t get lost.” 

“Oi, I can find my way just fine, I’ll have you know,” Sirius griped. 

James snorted. “Sirius, mate, you lost your boots under your own bed just this morning. Losing all of you isn’t that far a stretch.” 

“But I wouldn’t be lost, I would definitely know how to find myself.” 

“Okay, you two,” Lily cut in, looking like she was trying very hard not to laugh, her lip caught between her teeth, her eyes crinkled up at the corners. “Not here. I’ll meet you,” she paused and sighed, “both, after closing. There’s a lone willow by the river to the east of town. Think you can find it?” 

“Absolutely!” James assured her, gripping Sirius’ arm hard enough to hurt, but Sirius didn’t say anything. If it kept James from jumping out of his skin, he could take a couple of bruises. 

“Four hours,” Lily said, then tore a piece of parchment off a roll near the counter and fished a quill out of a small bone canister near the till. Frowning, she thought for a moment, then wrote a few quick words down, before handing the parchment to Sirius. 

_Three kg mutton, two kg venison_

“That way if anyone asks what you were doing here and leaving with nothing you can tell them that we ran out of mutton and you have an order slip,” she said gently, shoving them in the direction of the door. “Four hours.” 

Sirius grabbed James by the arm and dragged him out of the shop before he could try and hover for the rest of the day. It was going to be a long four hours. 

 

***** 

 

Sirius was lounging underneath the willow tree that they were supposed to meet Lily at, an apple in hand, trying not to get dizzy as James paced back and forth along the bank of the river. He was tempted to push James in, but decided that it wouldn’t be worth having to listen to James splutter about meeting Lily looking like a drowned rat. 

After a quick walk through the market for some hard cheese and fruit that they could make a lunch out of, Sirius had immediately realized that if they didn’t head out of town immediately, James was going to combust; so he had suggested getting to the meeting place early in case Lily closed the shop ahead of schedule. 

For the first two hours it hadn’t been so bad. James had made a makeshift target out of some fallen logs and crushed berries for paint and they had spent some time trying to see who could come up with the most complicated patters with their knives. After James broke one of his knives when it rebounded off a large rock, however, they had had to stop, and James had been pacing ever since. 

Sirius was just about to suggest climbing the willow tree, just for something to do, when a crackle of twigs breaking behind them had him up on his feet, whirling around, knife in hand. 

“Calm down, it’s just me,” Lily said, appearing through the trees. 

“You’re early!” James said, grinning, and shoving his glasses up his face. Sirius shook his head. 

“Sorry, this plonker has been bored, so we’re both very glad to see you.” 

Lily laughed. “It’s always nice to feel wanted,” she grinned, tossing her hair in James’ direction. Sirius blinked, hard, and looked between Lily and James. 

James, for his part, looked like he was about to fall over. Lily, on the other hand, was smirking a little bit, and when Sirius caught her eye, she winked at him. He almost wanted to hug her for her cleverness, but he also didn’t like the idea of her toying with James like that. He might have to have words with her. After going over his assignment. 

“Okay,” Lily said, sounding more serious, “Let me see your assignment?” 

Sirius liked the fact that she phrased it as a question. She certainly didn’t need to. Fishing the note out of his pocket and handing it over, he finally took a bite of his apple and settled back onto the leaves beneath the willow tree. No point in standing around awkwardly. 

After only a moment, James sat down beside him; once she looked up from the note in her hands, so did Lily, settling down facing him and James so that their knees were almost all touching. 

“Well, let’s start with the basics,” Lily said, handing the note back to Sirius for him to tuck back into his pocket. “Do you have any questions?” 

“So many, we might be here until next month,” Sirius said honestly. “But most of those James can answer for me.” 

Lily nodded and plucked a hunk of bread out of what appeared to be nowhere. 

“Where were you hiding that?” James asked, wide eyed. 

“Down boy,” Sirius muttered, clapping James on the knee hard enough that James listed in his direction. “Although, it is a neat trick,” he added just to see the wounded look on James’ face. James flipped him two fingers and reached over, trying to steal his apple. 

“A girl has to have some secrets,” Lily answered, breaking the bread in half and handing some to James, who immediately left off trying to get to Sirius’ food. 

“Okay, I guess my biggest question is, do we just capture or kill any werewolves spotted in the area? Hasn’t it been proven that most of them are harmless?” 

“Of course, we don’t!” Lily exclaimed, sounding affronted at the thought. “Only if they’ve been proven to be attacking people. And even then, we at least try and capture them for trial. Only kill if you have no other option. We may be expected to be well trained in all weapons, but believe it or not, violence is usually the last resort.” 

“Oh, thank fuck,” Sirius hissed, feeling some tension he hadn’t even realized he was carrying around with him slowly drain out of his shoulders. 

“You’ve been given this assignment because there have been three confirmed attacks in the last five full moons, and one that wasn’t even on a full moon. One of the victims was a child.” 

Sirius went cold at that, and he heard James hiss, but it sounded like it was coming through a fog of anger that was slowly boiling up out of him. Attacks not on the full moon were extremely rare. Most werewolves didn’t have the capacity to transform without a full moon, and the ones that did chose not to. The odd attack from a new transformation where the person didn’t have control wasn’t uncommon, but an attack away from the full moon was deliberate and malicious. 

Swallowing down his rage until he had a target to direct it at, Sirius answered, “Well, then I guess I get to stop them." 

 

***** 

 

The full moon was high overhead, and Sirius, clad in his official Order jacket, a pair of black trousers, and a black shirt, was slowly stalking his way through the woods just north of town. He had spotted wolf tracks about an hour after sundown, and he had been following them since, but the effort of staying upwind had slowed him down considerably and he had yet to find the werewolf. 

His boots were mired down in the muck left from the rains early in the day, and he was starting to regret this entire idea of becoming a renowned warrior. Apparently, it wasn’t nearly as glamorous as James made it out to be. He was fairly certain James had never come home after a mission telling stories of getting lost in the woods, or stuck in mud up over his ankles that almost kept his favorite boots as a snack. 

The last of his food had dwindled away hours ago, and Sirius was very seriously considering giving up for the month when he tripped over a large branch that was partially obscured by all the fallen leaves. His right arm stung from the impact, but from where he lay, tangled in the mud and forest detritus, he spotted a tuft of tawny fur poking out from under a tangle of branches. Creeping closer he spotted the wolf, asleep, curled up in a den of leaves and twigs. He was struck by an overwhelming urge to pet it, before he reminded himself that it was likely this was the person who had been attacking villagers in the area. 

It didn’t seem fair, however, to simply try and kill them while they were still in wolf form, so Sirius climbed up the nearest tree to watch. Something seemed off about this entire situation. If this werewolf was so dangerous why were they just out here in the middle of nowhere sleeping off their transformation? Was it possible there was more than one mature werewolf in the same area? He had heard rumors of packs, but had, possibly erroneously, assumed that that’s all they were, rumors. Most werewolves that had been willing to give testimony to their affliction, had seemed to be loners, preferring to keep away from people of any ilk rather than run in packs. 

Finding a comfortable wedge between two branches Sirius settled himself in and waited for the sun to come up, trying not to doze off. 

Every so often he would lean over to make sure he hadn’t missed the wolf getting up and wandering off, and when the sun finally did come up, he almost missed it. It was a grey morning, barely brighter than the night it was chasing away, and he was nearly asleep. 

Blinking hard he watched as the leaves he had been keeping an eye on started to shiver and tremble and then finally burst out revealing a lanky, and very naked, man with sandy hair and long, thin limbs that Sirius immediately wanted to know the feel of. Shaking his head and reminding himself that he might still need to kill this man, he continued to watch as the man slowly eased his way to his feet, moving gingerly, and pulled a small bundle out of a crevice in a nearby tree, which proved to be a pile of clothing. Sirius winced in sympathy as it took the man three tries to thread himself into his trousers, finally having to sit on a stump to get his feet shoved through the ankle holes without falling over. 

This didn’t seem like the sort of man who was out attacking children for fun. 

Sirius realized that he was in for a lot more research before he could apprehend his target. 

 

***** 

 

After over a week of doing nothing except tail his quarry, Sirius had learned a few things about the man. He lived in a small cabin a handful of kilometers to the east of town, close enough to easily travel into town for supplies, but far enough that Sirius had never seen him get a visitor. 

Most of the village seemed to know him by sight, although when pressed no one knew his name, which frustrated Sirius more than it should have, since there was no real reason for him to need to know the man’s name. 

And most importantly, he was a creature of habit. He stumbled out of bed sometime closer to midday than dawn, and immediately threw open his heavy window drapes, which was the only reason Sirius managed to track him in the first place. A cup of coffee, no food, and he finally began his day, usually by spending some time in his little garden, although a few times, other chores took the place of gardening time. Late in the afternoon he usually had a small meal, the only one he ate for the day, and Sirius wasn’t sure if it was by choice or circumstance, but given how lanky the man was, he suspected the latter. After that he usually spend his time wandering the woods around his cabin, which was very taxing on Sirius’ ability to keep his cover. 

The first few times the man had wandered off into the woods, Sirius was on high alert, thinking that maybe he really was out attacking people, but after four days of following him as he foraged for berries, mushrooms, and hiding places large enough for a wolf to sleep in Sirius understood that he was just looking for places to lay low at the full moon and he grew more and more certain that this wasn’t the man he was after. 

Now, almost two weeks into his surveillance, Sirius was perched high up in a beech tree waiting for the man to come back outside after his meal. He was perched high enough that he was hoping to be able to see a large portion of his path before having to climb down and follow him. 

It was from this vantage point that he saw the little girl with the red cloak and a small basket come skipping down the path leading towards the cottage. At first, he assumed she was just going to skip on by, but when she got near the cottage she slowed down and ducked behind a tree. Sirius sat up a little straighter, bark digging into his back, knife appearing in his hand, just in case. 

Nearly an hour passed before his target finally stepped out of the house, and in that time neither he nor the little girl had moved from their posts. 

It was a cool day and the man came out in a jumper, but no cloak, and Sirius had a moment to wonder if he even owned one, before focusing his attention on the little girl, who had, at the sound of the door, slipped out from her hiding space and began skipping down the path again. She looked, upon casual glance, completely unconcerned with anything more arduous than picking small flowers growing along the pathway. 

When she neared the man that Sirius had been following, she dropped her basked, seemingly by accident, and a bunch of apples spilled out. He stopped to help her pick them up and she smiled and said something that Sirius couldn’t quite hear over the rustle of leaves in the breeze, and then continued skipping on her way. 

As he stood the man glanced at his hand where he was suddenly holding a slip of parchment, which he unfolded and read. 

After a moment he let out a scream of pure rage and crumpled the parchment in his fist, and then turned and walked straight to the base of the tree Sirius was hiding in. 

“You might as well come down,” he called up, just loud enough Sirius could barely understand him. “I’ll make some tea.” 

“Fuck,” Sirius hissed to himself before casually scampering down the tree like he had been intending to be spotted the whole time. 

“How did you know I was up there?” he asked before his feet even hit the ground, frowning around him like there was some signs he had forgotten to clean up on his way there that gave him away. 

“You’ve been stalking me for weeks. It’s not as if those Red Riding Hood Society jackets are inconspicuous.” 

Spluttering, Sirius followed him back into the small cottage and let himself be led to a tiny, but very neat kitchen, where a kettle hung over the small fireplace and a single plate was drying on the board. 

“How do you know about that?” Sirius asked once they were seated at the tiny table and the kettle was filled with water from a pump just inside the doorway. 

For a moment a chuckle was the only answer he got, but then the other chair scraped against the roughhewn floor and Sirius was joined at the table. “My father was a member before he died. My name is Remus, by the way.” 

“Remus,” Sirius said slowly, smiling against his urge to scream. His first assignment and he had been caught by the person he was supposed to be tracking. Not for the first time he was rethinking his choice of vocation, and he wasn’t even past his first month. 

Remus sat and watched him for a long moment and Sirius suddenly realized that he was probably waiting for an introduction in return. Sighing in resignation he slumped forward banging his head on the table. “Sirius,” he said, words muffled into his arm as he buried his face for a moment. “The worst warrior on the planet, apparently. Nice to meet you officially. Why did you invite me in, exactly? Seems sort of counterintuitive if you knew I’ve been following you.” 

Sliding the small slip of crumpled up parchment onto the table and shoving it towards Sirius, Remus shrugged, but there were tension lines at the edges of his eyes that had Sirius frowning in response. “Because I need your help.” 

Smoothing out the parchment Sirius saw one line, scratched into the fibers in brownish red ink. 

_If you don’t come home she her baby sister are next_

“What does that mean, if you don’t come home?” Sirius asked, still staring at the parchment, which he was starting to fear was written in blood. 

“You’re here about the recent werewolf attacks, aren’t you?” Remus asked, ignoring the question. 

Sirius nodded, then jumped as the kettle started whistling. Remus leveraged himself up from the table and took the kettle off the hook over the fire, pouring two mugs and adding small cloth pouches with leaves to the mugs. 

The urge to poke at the bag was too strong, and Sirius gave in, scalding his finger in the process, which made Remus chuckle slightly. 

“It’s just a bit of loose weave so I don’t have to pick tea leaves out of my teeth. I don’t have a real kettle.” 

“Smart,” Sirius said, sticking his finger in his mouth. 

“I’m not the werewolf you’re after,” Remus said then, abrupt and sharp, words tumbling out in a rapid burble that Sirius had to chase after to catch. “Talk to the survivors, they’ll tell you that the wolf you want is grey.” 

Sirius, who had already dispatched James to talk to the survivors, knew that already, but he hadn’t been relying solely on that information, knowing that memories were easily adjusted. But he suspected for some time now that Remus wasn’t the werewolf he was after, so he swallowed down all his objections and nodded. 

“But it is my fault,” Remus added after a moment of considering Sirius’ face. 

A long breath, then another, then another, and finally Sirius realized that Remus meant that. “You had better start at the beginning.” 

The tea seemed to be a stalling technique, but Sirius let Remus get away with it for a moment, before reaching over, and startling them both by putting a hand on Remus’ keeping him from shifting his mug around on the table, or picking it up again while he avoided talking. 

Their eyes met, and Sirius felt his cheeks heat up, not sure what had inspired him to touch this man, but not regretting it. Remus didn’t move his hand away. 

“Fenrir Greyback,” he said softly, finally, words tremulous, hovering in the air between them. “That’s where this started. With Fenrir Greyback. That’s where it will end, too.” 

The silence that followed was vibrating with the tension stretched out between them, only just barely held together by the place their hands were still connected. 

“Tell me about him,” Sirius said, slowly withdrawing his hand to give Remus the illusion of privacy that he couldn’t really have. 

“He was my father’s last assignment with The Red Riding Hood Society,” Remus said, eyes fuzzing over like he was no longer seeing the room. Sirius resisted the urge to touch him again, just to ground him in the present. “He had been attacking people, sometimes whole groups, trying to form a pack. According to my father it was less about more werewolves and more about having subservient people he could control. He was all about power. And pain. He likes pain.” 

He stopped talking and a full body shudder ran through him. Not sure how to handle this sort of discussion Sirius grabbed the kettle and topped off the mugs. Give him a troll to fight any day, but hard emotions and he was scrambling for something to say that didn’t make him seem like an insensitive berk. 

“He bit me in retaliation for my father trying to hunt him,” Remus added, almost like an afterthought, and Sirius grabbed his hand again before he had consciously decided to do so. 

Remus startled as if Sirius had dropped a hot ember on his hand instead of his own fingers, and Sirius gave him a sheepish grin, more grimace than anything. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said gently, not removing his hand. 

“I’m fine,” Remus said in reply, but he didn’t pull his hand away, and Sirius found himself tracing his thumb over the ridges of Remus’ knuckles and contemplating the light pink tinge just barely visible at the tips of Remus’ ears. 

“Yes, you most certainly are,” Sirius muttered before he could catch himself, and watched in fascination as the pink spread down Remus’ neck. “Sorry. Again,” Sirius sighed. “Now is probably not the time.” 

“Unfortunately, probably not.” 

Sirius blinked a couple of times, catching his breath against the edges of those words and trying not to let himself hope. “Does that mean it might be the time sometime in the near future?” 

Squeezing Sirius’ hand lightly before disentangling them with just the faintest traces of a smile, Remus shrugged. “Maybe.” 

Suddenly less disappointed with the way this assignment was turning out, Sirius flashed his brightest smile before letting his face settle into something more serious. “Okay, now tell me about this note.” 

“Not much to tell,” Remus shrugged, shoulders slumped, face pinched in a way that screamed defeat. “He’s trying to threaten me into joining his pack. I’ve refused so far, but now he’s bringing children into it. I’m not sure how much longer I can hold out.” 

“Well, then, I suppose I’m going to have to stop him before it comes to that,” Sirius offered just for the way it made Remus’ face light up. Yeah, he was definitely starting to get into this whole fearsome warrior thing. 

 

***** 

 

“Are you sure this is allowed?” Sirius asked for the third time, following behind James and Lily as they quietly stalked their way deeper into the woods. 

“Sirius, for the last time, the only rules are to get the job done and to not do anything too terrible that can be traced back to the order. If it takes more than one order member to get the job done then ask for help. Always,” James sighed, reaching up to scrub a hand through his hair and accidentally knocking off his official hood instead. 

“Besides,” Lily added, crossbow held loosely in her hand as she moved ahead of Sirius and James. “We’re your friends, we’d help anyway. A werewolf that’s threatening children is more important than your pride.” 

It took a moment for Sirius to get past the _we’re friends_ part of that statement to realize that Lily’s two points had nothing to do with each other, and he was momentarily unsure if he should take offense at the dig at his pride or not. In the end, he decided to ignore the whole thing in favor of smirking at the stunned look on James’ face at being included in the statement of friendship. 

“Besides,” Lily shrugged, throwing an impish grin over her shoulder. “Do you have any idea the amount of paperwork I would have to do, as your contact, if you were to die on your very first mission?” 

Sirius flipped her a couple of fingers, but didn’t say anything in return, because there was a small part of him that was afraid they were _all_ going to die. Storming into a werewolf pack where the leader was intentionally antagonistic and sadistic didn’t seem like the wisest move, but as none of them had any better plan they were taking the direct approach. 

The map that Remus had drawn for Sirius was crude and had no sense of scale at all, and Sirius was starting to think that the camp they were looking for was not within a single days walking distance when they were approached by a small girl in a red cloak. Sirius recognized her from the day before, outside Remus’ cabin, and he was instantly on guard. 

“Are you here about Remus?” she asked, blinking huge brown eyes up at Sirius, face solemn in a way that he had never seen in a child before. 

Crouching down before the child, Lily smiled a bright smile, trying to hide the crossbow behind her body which just made the child snort. “Will you show us the way to the camp?” 

“Whatever,” she drawled, spinning around, her cloak whipping out behind her, and running off until they could barely hear her when she added, “He won’t be happy if you haven’t brought him Remus, though. He might even bite Madeline even though he promised he would give Remus until the full moon.” 

“What is going on around here?” James hissed, despite Sirius having given both him and Lily the rundown of what Remus had told him. 

“Bad things,” Sirius answered quietly, watching the little girl fidget with the edges of her cloak, the first sign that he had seen that she was just a kid being thrown into a dark existence against her will. Then, louder, “You know, we’re here to help you.” 

Bare feet stopped walking and the girl turned back to glare at Sirius while they caught up to her again. “And do what with us? This is home now, whether we like it or not.” 

“Where are your parents?” James asked carefully. 

“Dead.” 

“Did Greyback have anything to do with that?” Sirius asked, fingers clenching so tightly on the hilt of his knife that his knuckles cracked. 

She just shrugged and nodded. “We’re his now. And he’ll make us wolves soon enough. I expect it, but I want to keep him from making Maddy a wolf so soon. She’s only three.” 

“You don’t think anyone else would take care of you if we made Greyback go away?” Lily asked, slipping around the far side of the girl so she couldn’t take off again. 

She shrugged again. “Maybe Daliah. She’s nice.” 

The three adults all nodded to each other, and the girl huffed again. “You know I can see you, right?” 

In response, James bent down and scooped her up, balancing her on his hip as if she were a much smaller child than she actually was. “Yup, we do. And I’m going to make sure you can keep seeing us, okay? We want to make sure you and Maddy stay safe. Can you help us with that?” 

After a moment of struggling against his grip the girl finally sighed and let herself be carried. “You promise he won’t get to bite Maddy?” 

“Promise.” 

Lily was watching the entire exchange with a soft look on her face that Sirius recognized as a reflection of the one James always sent at her when she wasn’t paying attention and he didn’t feel the need to show off. It wouldn’t be long, Sirius suspected, before he was finding a new place to live. Somehow, he was less upset about that thought than he would have been a week earlier. 

“What’s your name?” Lily asked, walking on James’ other side. 

“Lizzy,” was the prompt response. 

“Well, Lizzy, do you think you could point us in the right direction? We’re terribly lost.” 

Lizzy flashed the first smile Sirius had seen on her face and she nodded, pointing the direction she had come from. “You’re going to have to put me down before we get there, though. Just in case you lose, I don’t want him to think I’m with you.” 

“That seems fair enough,” Sirius said, trying not to think about what would happen to this poor child if they didn’t manage to capture Greyback. 

They followed Lizzy’s directions for a few more kilometers, James carrying her the entire way without once looking like he was growing tired, and Sirius was starting to seriously rethink his conditioning training, when she started tugging at James’ hood. “Let me down now, it’s just over that hill.” 

Complying, James let her down, and startled forcefully when she patted his arm in thanks before running over the hill and disappearing from sight. 

Lily looked like she wanted to run right after her, but Sirius put a hand on her shoulder and held her back. “Give her a few minutes. I know you want to rush in there and rescue her, but she’s lived there for a while now, a few more minutes won’t hurt her any, and might well help her in the long run. Let’s be smart about this.” 

“Since when are you the champion of prudence?” James snorted, nudging Sirius with his shoulder. 

Sirius just shrugged and didn’t say anything. He didn’t know how to voice that it had never seemed real before, all the training in the yard with straw dummies and apples as targets. But Remus, Lizzy, there were real people out there getting hurt, and that seemed like it deserved a little prudence. 

“So, what’s the plan, then?” Lily asked, nudging Sirius’ other shoulder. 

“There are too many eyes in there,” Sirius said, creeping up so he could just barely peek over the crest of the hill. What he saw shocked him. Small huts, no more than thatch and mud, but structures despite that, and gardens and livestock all beside a slow burbling creek. There were people milling about, tending the animals, watching over children, it appeared to be a very small, but complete village. 

He ducked back and shook his head. “It’s a whole village. Probably a solid twenty, possibly even thirty, people. There’s no way we can sneak into that, so we’re going to have to just hope for speed and force.” 

“How will we know which one he is?” James asked, hand gripping his newly repaired short sword. 

“I’ll take care of that,” Sirius answered, grimly, taking a deep breath and then marching forward hoping the other two would follow. 

The moment they came over the hill there were eyes on them, tracking them, silently questioning the intrusion into their secular community. A few people shied away, ducking inside their homes, but most simply watched from where they were, neither approaching nor backing away, and Sirius had to swallow down a burst of fear. If these people all sided with Greyback they were dead. Simple as that. 

When they reached the edge of the first line of huts Sirius stopped, putting his hands out to stop Lily and James with him. 

“Which one of you is Fenrir Greyback?” he called, straightening up his spine until he was at his full height, shoulders squared, pulse pounding in his ear. 

“Who’s asking?” a voice growled from just inside one of the doorways, a gnarled hand gripping the empty frame, scars notched along the knuckles. 

“Who I am is not important,” Sirius answered, turning to face the doorway, trying to see inside but he was standing at just the wrong angle. “We’re here to talk about Remus Lupin.” 

The man that emerged from the hut was not at all what Sirius was expecting. He was rangy, ropy muscle and long limbs tangled together to give him a feral look built out of too many years running through the woods with little more than the bare minimum for survival. Wild hair topped him off, and the scars littering his arms and face looked deliberate, almost like a tally made by careful claw marks. Sirius had the sick thought that if he had the chance to count them they would correlate to the number of people living in the small village and he wanted to throw up. 

“What do three members of The Red Riding Hood Society want with Remus Lupin?” the man snarled, voice low and rough like he had spent too many years howling and not enough speaking gently. 

“He’s under my protection,” Sirius continued, taking a step forward and pulling out one of his smaller throwing knives, the ones not designed so much for causing damage as for causing distractions. “And I suspect that, since I’m assuming you’re Greyback, the only way to keep him safe is to kill you, I guess that’s what I’m planning on doing.” 

“We’re supposed to bring him in alive if possible,” Lily hissed under her breath, sounding more resigned than upset. 

More people were slowly starting to appear from around the village, slowly forming ranks until Sirius, James and Lily were carefully closed in, left facing Greyback against the backdrop of more of the villagers. 

“We might be fucked,” James whispered, taking a step forward to stand with Sirius. 

“Liar!” a voice shouted from the back of the crowd. 

Frowning, Sirius looked around to see if he could find where the voice had come from so he could address it, but it turned out he didn’t need to. 

A woman was shoving her way through the line of people and snarling, but not at Sirius, at Greyback. “Liar!” she cried again. “You said that werewolves were outlaws, that the only way we could survive is if we followed you or they would send people to kill us all. But here come the dreaded Red Riding Hood Society that you’ve been using like boogeymen to scare us all into servitude for years, not to kill us, but to _save_ one of us!” 

“Delilah,” another voice called, followed by a young man stepping out of the crowd. “Delilah, please be careful.” 

She whirled around and faced Sirius. “Are you really here to protect a werewolf?” 

Before he had the chance to answer, Greyback swung an arm and struck Delilah in the side of the head, sending her sprawling. “Filthy bitch, forgot who was in charge here. I am your master and you will remember your place,” he growled, turning his attention to where Delilah was cowering on the ground, one hand clutching at her ear where blood was trickling from between her fingers. 

Sirius used Greyback’s momentary distraction to toss one of his throwing knives, which hit home, sinking into the side of Greyback’s neck. 

While Greyback plucked the blade out of his flesh and advanced on Sirius, Lily darted forward and helped Delilah up, wrapping an arm around her waist. “We’re here to protect any werewolf who wants to live their life as free people, not as servants to a tyrant,” she said to Delilah, but speaking loud enough that they could all hear her. 

“He’s a liar,” Delilah called out again, leaning heavily on Lily. 

Greyback stopped his advance and looked around at the crowd, eyes suddenly going wide as he realized what was happening. 

“Are we going to continue to let him terrorize us when we have choices? Real choices?” Delilah shouted. 

“No!” piped up a tiny voice, and when Sirius looked he saw Lizzy carrying a small child half her size that could only be Maddy. “We aren’t!” she shouted, her red cloak billowing behind her like rivulets of blood, the blood that was spilled to keep her prisoner there, making her look vicious instead of just like a scared little girl. 

There was a grumbling, rumbling from the crowd, and then they all surged forwards at once and Greyback went down under the push of bodies. Sirius lost sight of him for a long moment, and he turned away, rushing over and grabbing Lizzy and her sister and pulling them away from the screaming that was starting to come from the bottom of the pile. 

He tucked them into one of the buildings with a glare, and then turned back just in time to see the crowd break apart, Greyback still and silent on the ground in the parting. 

James slipped over to join Sirius, watching with a critical eye as the crowd rapidly dispersed, leaving just a body in the middle of the dirt and mud, a slow spill of red slowly pooling beneath it. “Well, that didn’t end the way I expected it to, at all,” he said quietly, voice flat and solemn. 

“I can’t say I’m terribly unhappy with the result, though,” Sirius said, quietly, but fiercely, thinking about how he was going to be able to go back to Remus and tell him that it was over. 

When Lizzy grabbed ahold of the edge of James’ jacket with one hand, and hugged her baby sister to her with the other James’ face went soft. “Me either.” 

 

***** 

 

In the weeks that followed, Sirius was so busy he didn’t manage to make his way out to see Remus at all. He had sent a post owl to tell Remus that he didn’t need to worry about Greyback anymore, but hadn’t received any reply at all. At first, he was worried that Remus had left, but Kingsley had mentioned him in passing, saying that he had been in to pick up some repaired gardening tools. So now Sirius was simply afraid that Remus had changed his mind and wanted nothing more to do with him since it was safe again. 

The first week had been spent convincing Poppy Pomfrey to travel out to see the werewolves in their own village. The only ones who had been willing to travel into town and see her at her private healer’s office were Delilah, who, it turned out, had had a small amount of healer training before she was bitten. Delilah was now apprenticing with Poppy and the girls, Lizzy and Maddy who were living with Delilah. They were in the process of finding a place to live in the village proper so Delilah could train full time. 

The second week had seen Sirius, James, and Lily attempting to find resources for the rest of the small village, training, jobs, sources of food, and better shelter. It was slow going, a lot of them were still wary to trust outsiders, but they were starting to see some progress, and Sirius was slowly starting to feel satisfied with his work. 

Now that things were moving and the work was mostly being done by people who knew more about the kinds of help that were available than he did, Sirius was back to being bored, and that was how he found himself outside the owlery contemplating renting a non-post day owl to send to Remus. 

James and Lily were coming out of the butcher’s shop together while Sirius paced in front of the owlery trying to decide if he was ready for rejection via post. 

“Sirius!” James called, voice too big, starling a few owls that had been napping against the glass front of the building. His smile threatened to split his face, and Sirius shook his head, rolling his eyes at Lily who giggled. Giggled. Sirius sighed and realized that it was hopeless, but he let the feeling of his best friend being happy wash over him until he was smiling too. 

“Did you finally come up with some sort of flimsy excuse for stalking the shop?” Sirius asked, falling in step with them and letting himself be led away from the owlery. 

“Actually, we were stalking you,” Lily grinned, slipping an arm around James’ waist just to make him trip over his own feet. “You were pacing outside the owlery for quite some time. Everything okay?” 

“I tried telling you, he’s pining,” James said before Sirius had a chance to answer. 

“I am not pining,” Sirius huffed, feeling his cheeks heat up. “I just wish he’d answered me.” 

“That sounds at least a little bit like pining,” Lily grinned. 

“Traitor,” Sirius hissed, reaching around James to smack her in the shoulder lightly. 

“I don’t know why you don’t just go see him,” she continued, swatting at his hand until they ended up both sort of half wrapped around James and they all tumbled over into a heap, laughing. “It’s not as if you have much of anything else to do these days.” 

Sirius disentangled himself, but didn’t get off the ground, liking the feeling of not needing to keep his feet under him. “I just don’t know if I’d be welcome.” 

“You literally stalked the man for weeks, Sirius, and he didn’t send you away. I think showing up unannounced is the least of your worries.” 

“Like you can talk,” Sirius growled, glaring at James. 

“And look how that turned out for me,” James grinned, dropping a kiss on Lily’s cheek that had her swatting at him and threatening to tumble them all over again. “Just go see him, then you’ll know either way and can stop being a miserable git at me.” 

“Fine, I’m going, but only because I can’t stand being around this much sweetness without gagging, just a little.” 

Knees creaking just a little, Sirius clambered up off the ground and stalked off before he could rethink this plan. 

He had made the trip to Remus’ place so often during those few weeks of surveillance that he could now navigate his way through the woods to get there without the conscious effort of his brain, which left him plenty of time to rethink what he was doing. By the time he reached the little cottage he was having a hard time breathing, and not just because he hadn’t increased his endurance training any. 

It was late afternoon, and Sirius was hoping he had gotten there before Remus had left for his afternoon walk. 

Pausing to take a couple of deep breaths, Sirius scrubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “Come on, Sirius, you’re a professional warrior now, talking to a beautiful man shouldn’t be scary,” he muttered to himself, squeezing his eyes shut for a long count of ten. 

“I don’t know,” came a voice from behind him, making him jump and scrape his arm against a tree, little flecks of bark sticking to his skin. 

“I find that talking to beautiful men is about as scary as it can get,” Remus finished, flashing a tiny smile at Sirius, who was still trying to breathe through the adrenaline. 

“Is that why you never answered me?” Sirius asked, regretting the abruptness of his tone almost immediately, but refusing to take it back. 

Remus shook his head and started walking, heading towards his front door, which he held open in silent invitation. After a heartbeat Sirius walked inside and let Remus close the door behind them. 

“You sent me one line, Sirius. Told me Greyback was dead and nothing more. There was nothing there to respond _too_.” 

Sirius wanted to be angry, but Remus was right, and furthermore, being angry wasn’t the best way to start repairing the mess he had made of things. That didn’t mean he was just going to capitulate, though. If this was going to work, he wouldn’t be someone else for another man, just because he was pretty. 

“You’re right, I suppose,” he offered, leaning against the door and swatting at the hair that had escaped its tie and fallen into his face. “But you could have written back anyway, if you had wanted to hear from me. We’re both at fault here, and I’ll go if you tell me to, but first, I need to ask, did you even want to hear from me at all?” 

The silence that stretched out between them had Sirius wanted to punch something, just to let off some of the tension that was mounting, but he forced himself to wait as patiently as he was able, only twitching his fingers against his leg as inconspicuously as he could, nails digging into his thigh. 

“I think I wanted it too much,” was the soft reply, and Sirius finally drew a breath. “And I didn’t know what to do with that. I still don’t.” 

“Well,” Sirius started, taking a step forward, away from the safety of the wall and into the unknown, holding out a hand. “How about we figure it out together?” 

“I think that maybe I would be willing to try that,” Remus offered, taking the proffered hand and tugging until they were sharing space. 

Sirius was the one to finish closing the distance for a kiss.


End file.
